EPIC PRANKS EMPLOYEES PULLED AT WORK

Sabrina is the editor in chief for TINYpulse news. She's dipped her toes into various works of writing — from retail copywriter to magazine editor. Her work's been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg BNA, and Tech.co.

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Did your alarm go off at an odd hour today? Or maybe you found out (the hard way, of course) your sugar was replaced with salt. It’s April Fools’ Day! A day where you have to think twice about everyone’s comments, check your seat before you sit down, and just watch your back.

Of course, the workplace is no exception. Here are some pranks employees have either orchestrated or were the victims of:

Looking Lovely

Working at a business that sold children’s toys meant there were a lot of fun things to play around with in the office. And what happens when an office full of overgrown kids gets a hold of a realistic-looking doll?

At my previous job, we had one specific doll that was The Prop for pranks. My colleagues have been known to leave it sitting in the elevator to scare people coming in. They’ve hidden it around the office in every nook and cranny, contorting it Exorcist style.

Of course, one day, a close colleague of mine came into work, opened her drawer, and found the doll inside with a note that says, “You looked lovely while you slept last night.” We spent all day trying to figure out who pulled the prank, but no one ‘fessed up.

It’s a Wrap

April Fools’ Day isn’t complete without plastic wrap. And our own Director of Marketing, Laura, is quite the prankster herself. At one of her previous jobs, she equipped herself with a full load of plastic wrap and went all out for one of her colleagues. Computer, chair, desk — you name it, she made sure to wrap every single inch of her colleague’s workspace.

Laura’s not the only trickster in our office. Matt, one of our account managers, is also on my watch list.

“At my work, parking is troublesome. Most of us park in 2-hour spots. My coworker Nadine tends to gamble with this. She often gets nervous about possibly getting a ticket.

“My supervisor and I joked to each other about pranking her on April Fools’ Day. I decided to take one of my old parking tickets and put it on her windshield, under the windshield wiper. I set the prank up by mentioning that the parking police were out and about, writing tickets. I told her I was going to go move my car, and she decided to move hers as well. Instead of moving my car, I stopped and watched her walk up to her car and see the ticket. Needless to say, she didn’t look very happy.

“After moving her car, she walked back into the office lobby, where I met up with her. She started venting about it and was confused because the car listed on the ticket was not hers. I told her to flip the ticket over, and it read, “Gotcha! Happy Fools’ Day!””

Done Deal

We’re all hard workers (at least we should be). And it’s tough when all of that extra effort goes down the drain. John Crossman at Crossman & Company was given a nice startling surprise at his workplace:

“About 12 years ago, I was on a small team working on a huge transaction that required an exceptional amount of work. The team leader called me and another guy into a conference room and went into great length about how the deal was dead.

“After some time, he then told us, ‘April Fools!’ I am still mad at him.”

Joke’s on You

Sometimes people try to pull pranks on others, but then it backfires. And it’s always fun to be on the giving end. Rich Kahn, founder and CEO of eZanga, knows this all too well.

“One year, we had an employee call in on April Fools’ Day saying that he quit. We all knew this was not the case and that he would arrive at the office in a matter of seconds.

“That’s when my wife, Beth, and our IT Manager, Joe, leapt into action. The twosome ran over to this employee’s desk, hastily packed up all of his belongings, and placed them on his chair. They then rolled the chair outside of the building and locked the door so that he wasn’t able to get in. Beth and Joe really turned the tables on this guy, and he spent the rest of the day (yes, he kept his job) getting ribbed that his prank had backfired against him!”

Party Like It’s Your Birthday

When it comes to the boss’s birthday, every employee wants to bid their warm wishes to their leader. However, what happens when it’s not actually their birthday?

Mary Flynn tells us how she convinced her coworkers that it was their boss’s birthday: “I managed to convince my colleagues that our boss’s birthday was April 1 and that he was so embarrassed about it that he didn’t want anyone to know. The entire company put together a huge party for him, complete with decorations, food, and presents, and they managed to keep the whole thing a surprise.

“When he walked in, he turned beet red and kept trying to tell people it wasn’t really his birthday, but nobody would listen as they all thought he just didn’t want to admit it. He eventually resorted to showing them his driver’s license, and then they realized that the joke was on them!”

Work gets dull when it’s all about producing. Add a little fun into your organizational culture to get your employees engaged, even if it means pulling a friendly prank.

If you’ve ever experienced a prank or pulled one that you’re super-proud of, share it with us!

Sabrina is the editor in chief for TINYpulse news. She's dipped her toes into various works of writing — from retail copywriter to magazine editor. Her work's been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg BNA, and Tech.co.